RoughRiders have experience at the back, inexperience up front

CEDAR RAPIDS - If you believe successful hockey teams are built from the back, the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders should be a formidable force again this season in the United States Hockey League.

If you believe the opposite, well, you're not quite as excited for the start of the regular season.

That's not to say the Riders lack talent up front, it's just widely inexperienced. Cal Burke, Ross Colton and Hugh McGing are the only forwards who return to a club that opens things Saturday at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena against Lincoln.

'We've got a great group of guys who I think are willing to fight for each other,” Burke said Wednesday at the team's annual Media Day. 'We're all battling every day to get better.”

'I think we're a hard-working team,” Colton added. 'Right now we are just focused on Saturday.”

General cliches aside, it's always good not to worry about goaltending, and the RoughRiders are especially strong at that position. Ryan Larkin and Ben Blacker combined for every minute and second last season and posted solid numbers.

Blacker was 24-11-0 with a 2.73 goals against average and .913 save percentage, Larkin 15-10-0 with a 2.43 GAA and .919 save percentage. How they'll split the minutes this season is up in the air, according to Coach Mark Carlson.

'It's just day by day,” he said. 'The boys have played well. Ben has played well, and Shark has played well. That's a positive for us.”

Mitch Reinke, Derek Daschke and Logan Von Ruden return on defense. Bryce Hatten would have been added to that list, but he's on injured reserve with a hip injury.

So get to know guys like Riese Zmolek (son of former NHL player Doug Zmolek), Jack Ahcan and Ben Foley. The Riders made a trade Tuesday for rugged D-man Simon Butala, who played a few games last season for Sioux City.

'We like the guys that we have,” said Reinke, who could emerge as one of the top defensemen in the USHL this season. 'We've just got to keep working every day and take it one game at a time. The rest should be good. Us returners, it has to start with us. We've got to be hungry to get after it. Get some wins right away and continue it all year long.”

Burke, Colton and McGing combined for 49 goals and 92 points last season and need to step up to help offset the losses of NHL draft picks Erik Foley and Adam Gaudette, and Jiri Fronk, who is practicing with the team this week as he tries to make the professional Manitoba Moose of the (Triple-A level) American Hockey League.

Newcomers to keep an eye on up front include Matt Filipe and Jacob Hayhurst. Filipe and Daschke will take part Thursday night in USA Hockey's All-American Prospects Game at First Niagara Center, home of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres.

'This team here will be interesting because we have the ability to make plays, we have some real good depth overall ... and some good toughness,” Carlson said. 'I think it's a really good mix.”

The team went 5-2 in the preseason, though that's meaningless. The RoughRiders submitted a 23-man active roster Wednesday, though there are more than that still here practicing.

Carlson said that all will sort itself out moving forward. He chose not to comment publicly when asked why he turned down the head coaching job with the Soo Greyhounds of the Major Junior Ontario Hockey League in the offseason, choosing to remain with a franchise he has been with since its began in 1999.

He went over 500 career wins last season.

'We've got a lot of guys who have done pretty well so far,” he said. 'The preseason we're playing with lots of guys. Like most clubs, you're not playing with a full lineup. But we seem to have good depth, and we're continuing to learn each and every day here.”

Click on the 'Roster” icon at the top right of this post to view every USHL's club 23-man active roster and its affiliate roster of young players.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com